JPS60100479A - Photoelectric converter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a photovoltaic power from decreasing due to the shortcircuit of a peripheral end by electrically coupling the first electrode via a lead extended from the second electrode at the side of the first electrode, thereby providing a redundancy at the position of the opened groove of a scribing line. CONSTITUTION:The fourth opened groove 56 is formed on the first conductive film 2 along the side end 33 of a substrate. Further, a semiconductor 4 is formed over the fourth groove. Then, the second conductive film is formed above or inside the groove 56 at the end 57 on the semiconductor. Even if the first electrodes of adjacent elements are shortcircuited by the separated groove 62, the shortcircuit can be prevented by the groove 56. A conductor 34 is pressurized by a carbon fiber frame 60, and even if shortcircuited, elements 31, 11 are not deteriorated in the characteristics.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention The present invention relates to a photoelectric conversion element (also simply referred to as an element) provided on a substrate having an insulating surface and a non-single crystal semiconductor including an amorphous semiconductor that generates photovoltaic force by photothermal IJ. A light that can generate high voltage by electrically connecting multiple pieces in series? The present invention relates to the structure of an electrode at the panel side end of a connecting portion in an IIS converter.

In the present invention, when a photoelectric conversion device is manufactured by laser scribing (hereinafter referred to as LS), a first conductive film on a substrate and a second conductive film on a semiconductor are connected to each other in a connecting portion connecting each element in series. Due to the size of the first conductive film on the semiconductor substrate, the first conductive film on the semiconductor substrate is It is characterized in that the second conductive film is the same or smaller.

This invention provides a method for connecting rH+! to the peripheral portion of a photoelectric conversion device panel (hereinafter simply referred to as the panel), especially when the panel is rectangular or rectangular, even at the two side portions where the external extraction 7h pole is not formed. The lower electrode of one IJ element (the first electrode made by the first 4-electrode) and the upper electrode of the adjacent element (the second electrode made by the second conductive film) are conductors. are connected. Generally, at the side edges of the panel, the substrate has a concave or convex warp of 1 μm to 0.1 mm. Since the laser beam is out of focus at such side ends, the first conductive film cannot be completely electrically separated into the shape of the first electrode required for a predetermined element.

Furthermore, if this first electrode is made of CTF whose main component is tin oxide or indium oxide, when it is formed on the side of the substrate by electron beam evaporation, the CTF wraps around and the conductivity on that side is removed by LS. Can not do it.

For this reason, it is not possible to electrically separate the first conductive film only by an opening groove (hereinafter referred to as opening in Section 1) to form a first electrode for each element.

In order to eliminate this drawback, the present invention uses a laser beam to form an open groove (hereinafter referred to as the open groove of Node 4) inside (generally 0.3 to 5 mm) from the edge of the substrate.
The first electrode for each element was surrounded by four grooves.

In this way, it was possible to eliminate the electric short between the electrodes due to variations in laser processing due to substrate warping of the substrate 6111 portion as described above.

However, it has been found that with only this fourth groove, when an electrode is formed on a semiconductor using the second conductive film, there is a possibility that the connection portion connecting each element in series may be shortened. That is, if a second conductive film is formed that protrudes outward to a greater extent than the first conductive film, the second electrode at this connecting portion is connected to the first conductive film outside of the opening l+li of the adjacent element. electrically connects to the membrane. Moreover, this conductive film is short-circuited with the first conductive film under the second electrode mentioned above due to leakage, resulting in a short-circuit between the upper and lower electrodes of the device at the periphery, and photovoltaic force is generated. I can't stand it anymore. Therefore, it is extremely important industrially to prevent the photovoltaic force from decreasing due to short circuits at the peripheral edge.

That is, the present invention solves this problem, and by providing the second conductive film above the fourth groove or inside the fourth groove, it is possible to arrange the adjacent elements in series for the first time in one panel. It was found that the connection could be made without causing a short circuit at the side ends.

The present invention achieves such an integrated structure without using a mask, but during this integration, the side edges of the substrate, which tend to require extra steps, can be achieved in the same integration process as the LSI. It is.

Generally, in the LS method, 10 to 100μ, for example, 50μ
It is possible to separate the two regions by a linear groove with a width of μ. However, in this LS method, it is extremely difficult to selectively remove surfaces, which increases the manufacturing cost. Furthermore, in the LS method, it is preferable to have straight lines or points because it increases productivity, but if a curved line is scanned in a complicated manner, the scanning speed becomes slow and the price increases. Therefore, when creating the peripheral part of the panel and the integrated structure in the LS method, it is extremely important to achieve industrial productivity by using straight and linear open grooves. The present invention relates to a structure of a peripheral portion, that is, a pad portion, and a side end portion of a photoelectric conversion device by making full use of the above-mentioned features.

Furthermore, in the present invention, in addition to using this laser scribing process, it is important to provide a degree of redundancy (margin) in the alignment accuracy of the scribe lines. Therefore, the first electrode (lower side) between adjacent elements and the second electrode of other elements
By electrically connecting the electrode (upper type 4f2) to the first electrode on its side surface by a lead extending from the second electrode, redundancy can be provided in the position of the open groove of the scribe line. did it.

Figure 1 shows a panel (50) of a photoelectric conversion device using the present invention.
is shown from the top. That is, in the drawing, the photoelectric conversion elements (31), <11) are connected in series through the connection part (]2) and integrated to provide the photoelectric conversion device (50). The external extraction electrodes (5), <45) are provided at both ends. Minute grooves (62) are provided at the upper and lower ends of the panel to prevent electrical short-circuiting with the frame.

In the panel shown in Figure 1, its size is 20cm x 6
0cm, 40cm x 120cm, 40cm
Any size such as 60c+n can be obtained by design.

FIG. 2 shows a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line (AA') in FIG. 1. Furthermore, the vertical cross-sectional view of (B-B') is shown in Figure 3 (B).
3(C) is shown enlarged in FIG. 3(A). The numbers correspond to each other.

FIG. 2 shows a longitudinal sectional view of FIG.

In FIG. 2(A), a substrate having an insulating surface, for example, a transparent substrate (1), that is, a glass plate (for example, 1.2 mm thick)
, the length is 60cm (in the left and right direction in the drawing), 20cm in the middle)
Alternatively, a translucent organic resin was used. Further, over the entire upper surface, a light-transmitting conductive film such as ITO (approximately 1,500 people) + 5N02 (200-400 people) or a light-transmitting conductive film whose main component is tin oxide doped with a halogen element (approximately 1,500-2,000 people) is applied. vacuum evaporation method, LP CV
It was formed by D method, plasma CVD method, or spray method.

Although this first conductive film is not necessary in the external lead electrode section, an increase in manufacturing cost due to the use of a mask was avoided. In this way, a CTF is also formed on the 7'li polar region (5).

After that, 0.5~3W output is applied from the upper side of this substrate using a YAG laser processing machine (Nippon Laser!v),
, irradiation is performed for 10 μs during the pulse by controlling the microcomputer, and the opening groove for the scribe line (13
>, < 13 were formed, and each element region and external extraction electrode region (5) were divided.

Then, first electrodes (37) and (39) were produced.

Open grooves (13), (13) formed by this first LS
) was approximately 50 μm in width and 20 crn in length, and the depth was approximately 1 mm to completely cut each of the first electrodes. This length is the first
The scanning speed for forming the open groove was increased to 2 m/min.

In this way, the external extraction electrode region (5), the first element region (
31) and the second element region (11) were constructed. The inside of these elements was 10 to 20 mm.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, a fourth opening groove (56) for a separation groove on the side of the substrate was also fabricated by the same LS process. As a result, the focus of the laser beam is blurred when the element region (31) in the panel is defocused due to the non-uniform conductive film (33) around the periphery 1ijJ5, that is, the warp of the substrate in the concave and convex portions at the side edges, and the opening groove (13) is It was electrically isolated from the region (34) where the region (13') could not be formed. active region (3
2), the open groove (13) allows the element (31), < 1
1) The first electrode was electrically isolated.

After that, this conductive film, the first groove and the fourth groove are covered and the upper surface is coated with plasma CVD or LP CVD, or with light C.
VD method, optical plug 7 CVD method, LT CVD method (HO
A non-single-crystal semiconductor layer (3) that generates photovoltaic force by light irradiation (also called MOCVD method), especially a non-single-crystal semiconductor layer (3) having a PN or PIN junction, is 0.2 to 1.0μ, typically 0.4 to It was formed to have a thickness of 0.6μ. A typical example is a P-type semiconductor (SixC+-x x =0.850
~150 people x 42) - Type 1 amorphous or semi-amorphous silicon semiconductor (0.4-0.6μ bar43)
)-N type microcrystals (100-200 people) or 5ixC
1x (0<x<l e.g. x=0.9) semiconductor (44
) with one PIN junction consisting of a non-single crystal semiconductor (
3). Furthermore, this semiconductor is a P-type semiconductor (Si
xC1, It may also be a IIIN junction semiconductor (3).

Such a non-single crystal semiconductor (3) was formed to have a uniform thickness over the entire surface of the CTF (2) and the open grooves (13) and (13'). Furthermore, as shown in Figure 2 (B),
A second open groove (18) is placed on the left side of the first open groove (13).
It was formed by the second LSI process over a distance (17) of 100 to 200 μ over a width of μ.

The second open groove (18) thus forms a side surface (8) of the first electrode.
, (9) was exposed. In this open groove, the CTF may have its top surface exposed or its top surface and side surface exposed as a part constituting the contact, instead of the side surface.

The presence of the right side surface (9) of the first electrode formed by this second open groove causes the side surface (16) of the first electrode (37) to
It is provided over the first electrode position of the first element on the left side.

Then, as shown in FIG. 2(B), the first electrode (3
By entering the inside of 1), the side surfaces of the first electrode are exposed as (8>, (9)).

By doing so, the first electrode (37) of the first element
A part of it remains on the right side of the second open groove.

If there is no such residual area, the high heat of the laser beam (~200
0° C.), the vicinity of this open groove is laser annealed and becomes polycrystalline, resulting in deterioration of insulation properties. Since this polycrystal is extremely likely to occur on the surface of the glass substrate, the convex portion (9) prevents this crystallization and prevents electrical short-circuiting between the side surface (9) and 16). There is. That is, it was possible to prevent short-circuiting between the first electrode (39) and the second electrode (38) of the same element in FIG. 2(C).

The CTF remaining in this portion (9) was made to have a width of 20 to 200 μ. This laser beam was a little too strong at 0.5 to 3 W and removed the entire CTF (37) in the depth direction, and as a result, a second electrode was formed on the side surface (8) as shown in Figure 2 (C). There is no practical problem even if (38) is placed closely together. That is, it is extremely important for the industrial application of the present invention to be able to provide a margin for the intensity of the output pulse of the laser beam.

In FIG. 2, as shown in FIG. 2(C), a second conductive film (4) on the back side is further formed on this top surface, and a third opening for cutting and separation is formed by a third LS method. Groove (20
) was established.

This second conductive film (4) has a translucent conductive film of 100 to 14
It is formed with ITOl-based indium suth) to a thickness of 0.00 mm, and further coated with titanium (10 to 50 mm) and silver (
100 to 500 pieces of chromium were formed to a thickness of 300 to 3,000 mm. Or ITOJ: 300 to 30 chromium
It was formed to a thickness of 0.00 people. For example, 1050 ITOs,
Chrome for 1500 people 2Jt! j structure.

It is also possible to form nickel or other metal on the chromium, or to use nichrome instead of chromium.

The size of this second conductive film is as shown in FIG.
), the end portion (57) is provided above the fourth trench or on the element region (active region) side (32) (inner side) of the fourth trench.

The end portion of the second conductive film was manufactured by masking the peripheral portion with a substrate holder (frame) when the second conductive film was manufactured by electron beam evaporation.

In this way, the end of the second conductive film is connected to the fourth end of the first conductive film.
above or inside the open groove (preferably at the inner end of the open groove (3
5)), the second element (11)
It was possible to prevent the electrode from being short-circuited via the connecting portion (12) due to a short between the first electrode of the same element and the first conductive film at the side end portion (34).

The back electrode is irradiated with a laser beam from above to cut and separate the second electrode to form a third opening (20) (middle 50
The figure shows the case where μ) is formed. Irradiation with this laser light made it possible to selectively remove ITO and chromium, which are sublimable conductors. At this time, since the laser beam is focused on this second conductive film, at the side part (34) of the panel (Fig. 3), the semiconductor underneath is substantially exposed (68). I realized that it was not formed.

Furthermore, the second part of the semiconductor under this third trench is oxidized (40
) to prevent crosstalk (leakage current) between the respective electrodes.

Thus, as shown in FIG. 2(C), a plurality of elements (
31) and <11) were connected in series at the connecting portion (12).

FIG. 2(D) shows the attempt to further complete the present invention as a photoelectric conversion device, that is, a silicon nitride film (21) with a thickness of 500 to
It was formed to a thickness of 5,000 mm to prevent leakage current between each element. Furthermore, an external lead-out terminal (23) was provided at the peripheral portion (5). These were filled with an organic resin (22) such as polyimide, polyamide, Kapton or epoxy.

Thus, for the irradiation light (10), each element is
lJI 4.35mm, connecting part middle 15077, external extraction electrode part rjjlQmm, peripheral part 4mm, self-help area (192mm x 14.35mm x 40 steps)
1102cTA, or 91.8%).

As a result, if segment 1- has a conversion efficiency of 9.3%, the panel has a conversion efficiency of 7.6% (8 Ml (100 mW/
cIA) ) was able to provide an output power of 9.3W.

Furthermore, since no metal mask is used at all, there is no industrial problem in the manufacturing process of large-area panels, making it extremely suitable for large-area, low-cost mass production for generating large amounts of power.

As a result, the effective area of the panel could be improved.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of (BB') and (C) in FIG. 1.

In FIG. 3(A), two elements (31), < 11
) and a connecting portion (12). Side edge (34
), as shown in Figure 3(B), <, CTF(5
9) will remain. Therefore, even if these conductors remain, in order to prevent the element (31), It has a structure that can be fixed to the frame (60).

That is, the first conductive film (
2) forms a fourth open groove (56).

Further, covering this fourth opening l+X+i, a semiconductor (3) is formed.
form. Thereafter, a second conductive IIQ is applied on this semiconductor.
The end portion (57) is provided above or inside the fourth open groove (FMJ).

Even if the first electrodes of adjacent elements were short-circuited due to this separation m (62), the fourth open groove (5G) could prevent the short-circuit. Furthermore, the conductor (34) is pressurized by the carbon fiber frame (60), so even if a short circuit occurs, the element (34)
1) and <11), there is no characteristic deterioration of any kind.

That is, the side end portion can be stably fixed to the outer frame (60) etc. for the first time due to the open groove (56) and the separation groove (62) formed by the side end (57). Furthermore, even if the frame and the photoelectric conversion device are fixed with resin (63), it is possible to obtain a device with sufficiently high reliability.

Furthermore, by combining 6 or 4 of these panels in series, for example, 40cm x 20cm or 60c+n x 20cm in an aluminum slat 7 frame, you can create a basso gauge size of 120cm x 40cm. It is possible to provide DO standard high power panels.

In addition, this NHDO standard panel is made into a composite body by laminating another glass plate or other mechanical substrate to the reflective surface side (upper side in the drawing) of the photoelectric conversion device of the present invention using a laminating adhesive such as Seaflex. It is also effective to increase #R mechanical strength against rain, etc.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, light was incident from the lower glass plate. However, the present invention does not limit the light incident side to the lower side.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a panel of a photoelectric conversion device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the manufacturing process of the photoelectric conversion device of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the photoelectric conversion device of FIG. 1 according to the present invention. Patent applicant 3 no + 2 1t (Bn, y, 3 Fl

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first conductive film on a substrate having an insulating surface, a non-single crystal semiconductor that generates a photovoltaic force upon irradiation with light, and a second conductive film on the semiconductor. , an opening groove in the first conductive film provided inside the edge of the substrate on a side portion of the substrate, and a second conductive film on the non-single crystal semiconductor provided covering the opening groove. A photoelectric conversion device characterized in that a side end of is provided above or inside the open groove. 2. In claim 1, the substrate is made of a transparent glass or organic resin film, and a transparent film containing indium oxide or tin oxide as a main component is provided on the insulating surface of the substrate. A photoelectric conversion device characterized in that a conductive film of No. 1 is provided.